Letter to the editor: Porn is powerful, evil

Carl Burkhead, Lawrence

To the editor:

On Feb. 8, the Journal-World reported on our state senators, Marci Francisco and Tom Holland, voting for a resolution concerning pornography and its potential effect on marital infidelity and erectile dysfunction. Strange to me that these two people who also support gay marriage, transgender rights and abortion are so concerned about these particular issues of morality (except the erectile dysfunction one, which seems to me to be age-related as best as I can tell, but one that the pharmaceutical industry has tried to solve).

So let’s look at pornography. I remember when I was staying in a hotel in Paris where I was presenting a talk and paper at an international conference. I turned on the TV in my room, only to find out that it was a porn station. I couldn’t believe the strong attraction of the images and I immediately turned it off because I knew it was evil. They were powerful (besides being vulgar), and this explains to me why they could be so addictive. Think about their access via smartphones, which are even more accessible to almost anyone regardless of age or gender.

Offering a resolution condemning the problem will have limited success, as shown in current and past national legislation. People have to decide whether they want to allow this evil into their lives or to resist it. Unfortunately, many who reject God’s truth concerning these behaviors are rejecting the very power they need to overcome the evil.